Baseball Season on MSC Poesia

MSC Poesia has returned to Europe, ending another US season, but it will be back next year, and they have already planned their hugely popular Baseball Greats theme
cruises for the 2010-11 Caribbean season. Baseball fans really enjoy the easy access to the baseball greats sailing on each cruise.

The 2010-11 dates are:

November 14, 2010: 7-night Eastern Caribbean calling at St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands; Philipsburg, St. Maarten; and Nassau, Bahamas. Featured former players include: Bob Feller, Tommy Davis, Glenn Beckert, Clarence Jones, and Stan Bahnsen.

December 5, 2010: 7-night Western Caribbean, calling at Key West, Florida; Ocho Rios, Jamaica; Georgetown, Grand Cayman; and Cozumel, Mexico. Featured former players include: Graig Nettles, Amos Otis, Dave Campbell, Stan Bahnsen and one more still to be announced.

January 9, 2011: 7-night Eastern Caribbean. Featured former players include: Stan Bahnsen and four more still to be announced.

January 23, 2011: 7-night Eastern Caribbean. Featured former players include: Rick Burleson, Jim Fregosi, Rick Wise, Stan Bahnsen one more to come.

February 6, 2011: 7-night Eastern Caribbean. Featured former players include: Stan Bahnsen and four more still to be announced.

Rates begin at $529 per person, based on double occupancy, plus $69.62 government fees and taxes). Rates and players are subject to change.

Medevac from Holland America's Veendam

The US Coast Guard received a call from Holland America's Veendam Sunday night at 9:15pm requesting a medevac for an 88-year-old woman who had sustained a head injury in a fall down the stairs. The Coast Guard dispatched an air crew from Air Station Atlantic City, and shortly they were hovering above Veendam's deck for an unusual night operation. (We have seen more and more of these lately, however, dictated by the urgency of the situation, such as in this case.)

In this video, you can see the woman being hoisted from the bow of the ship, and in a nice change from the norm, you can hear a female voice (the rescue swimmer) directing the operation from below.

The woman was transported to a local Atlantic City hospital for treatment. Veendam had just departed New York late Sunday afternoon (May 16, 2010) en route to Bermuda.

Bomb Threat against Liberty of the Seas

A caller to Royal Caribbean's Wichita reservations office reported a bomb aboard Liberty of the Seas about 5pm on Saturday.

Crews aboard the ship searched the ship's interior but found nothing. The ship proceeded on its schedule to Miami where it arrived at 6am on Sunday morning. Coast Guard vessels escorted the ship to its berth at the Port of Miami where FBI, Immigration & Customs Enforcement and Customs & Border Protection agents again searched the ship and investigated.

They cleared the ship to resume normal operation Sunday afternoon.

Further details will be in Monday's edition of Cruise News Daily.

RCI Rolling Oasis Features Back to Freedom and Liberty

Earlier this week we talked with Lisa Bauer, Royal Caribbean's SVP of Hotel Operations, about changes the line is making aboard Allure of the Seas to keep it slightly different from its sister, Oasis of the Seas. Today she is telling us about new Oasis-like features she is rolling backward onto Oasis' "little" sisters, Freedom of the Seas and Liberty of the Seas.

Details appeared in the May 14, 2010 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Pornography in Canada, New Visa Rules in Bermuda, Palm Beach Port News & Financial Trouble in San Diego

CND subscribers also read about the beginning of another summer of crew members being arrested in Halifax for carrying child pornography into Canada ... new visa rules in Bermuda causing problems for some passengers and crew members ... with the start of regular cruise service, there's a new more consumer-friendly website for the Port of Palm Beach ... and hard times at the Port of San Diego.

Details appeared in the "Other Things You'll Want to Know" column in the May 14, 2010 edition of Cruise News Daily.